


Part-Time

by shatteredcrystalwings



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 10:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11666856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shatteredcrystalwings/pseuds/shatteredcrystalwings
Summary: Yusuke finds himself repeatedly meeting the same boy working at different stores





	Part-Time

**Author's Note:**

> "Yusuke keeps running into Akira and doesn't realize it's him" was an idea I had very briefly while writing another fic, only to quickly realize it didn't fit the tone or plot of the fic as a whole. So a fluffy little one-shot it is.

The chatter of students and suit-clad businesspeople blended together into a colourful white noise, a beef bowl sitting half eaten as Yusuke found himself more engrossed in a sketch of the scenery in front of him, capturing the image of those same patrons. A woman to his left was on her phone, having what appeared to be a lovers’ spat. A small collection of middle school students across from him gossiped about classmates in voices that were just a touch too loud. The noise was inconsequential.

Or at least, most of it was. “Is something wrong with the food?”

Yusuke looked up, blinking at the sudden request for his attention and seeing a boy around the same age as him donning the restaurant’s striking blue and orange uniform. Really whoever had designed the thing needed a firm lesson in colour theory.

“Sir?”

“Uh- No, sorry,” he stuttered out, realizing his own distraction. “It’s quite alright. I suppose I’m just not as hungry as I thought…” He glanced to the side where what was supposed to be his dinner sat forgotten, probably cold by now.

“I could heat it up for you, if you want.”

He felt a small smile spread on his lips, meeting his gaze and noticing that the boy’s cheeks gained an interesting red tinge for just a moment. “I would appreciate it.”

The boy nodded, taking the bowl as Yusuke again returned his attention to his paper. He added a few more details to the sketch. A few more curls in the server’s hair here, an adjustment to a stack of glasses there. When the bowl was shortly returned to its place just off to the side, it was joined by a glass of amber liquid that Yusuke glanced at quizzically.

“Iced tea. I thought you might be bored with just water,” the boy said with a slight smile of his own, really more of a smirk. “On the house.”

Thinking little of the gesture, Yusuke accepted it graciously.

* * *

A pre-made lunch for school tomorrow, a pack of his favourite chips to snack on while working his way through his homework that evening, a small chocolate bar to satisfy a slightly larger craving, and oh his favourite magazine was having a feature on the techniques of Van Gogh’s lesser known works! Shuffling his other items into one arm, Yusuke flipped through the pages, though the fluorescent lights above proved to be a nuisance when pitted against the gloss finish of the paper. He was in the habit of just reading the key articles in the store rather than actually buying magazines which would likely just end up as loose paper protecting the floors from stray paint, but maybe just this once…

He walked over to the till, eyes still trained on the paragraph he was reading even as the person in front of him received their change and moved out of the way for him. It wasn’t until he finally had to put the magazine down for it to be rung up that he realized the boy standing behind the cash register looked oddly familiar, thought he couldn’t quite place from where.

“That comes to ¥1265,” the boy said, the bright lights catching on his glasses.

It clicked into place suddenly. This was the same boy who had worked at the beef bowl shop. Interesting, it was unusual for high school students to have multiple jobs.

Puzzling about it, Yusuke pulled out how wallet to find that he only had a ¥1000 bill where he thought he had also had more. Ah. Coins maybe… One hundred yen coin and a couple tens. “It, um, I don’t have quite…” he said eloquently as he moved the chocolate off to the side. “I don’t think I’ll get that after all.”

The boy made a noise of acknowledgement and the total displayed on the screen dropped by two hundred yen. There, that was doable. “¥45 is your change,” the boy dictated a moment later, sending Yusuke into the reverse ministrations of putting away his wallet as his items were bagged.

Embarrassed, Yusuke took the bag and left without mentioning anything about recognizing him, almost missing the fact that the boy winked at him. Almost.

It wasn’t until he returned home when he noticed that the chocolate had somehow ended up back amongst his purchases, accompanied by a small slip of paper with a phone number on it.

* * *

Upon his teacher’s request that he needed to stop filling his sketchbook with images of the same boy, (The Boy, as Yusuke had taken to calling him in his head,) Yusuke wove his way through the throngs of people that filled the corridors of Shibuya’s horribly narrow underground mall. There was a flower shop somewhere in here if he recalled correctly, and flowers were a classic as far as art subjects went. They also happened to be decidedly cheaper than a fruit bowl.

Of course fate would have it that the boy standing in an apron inside the flower shop was the same one who was indirectly responsible for him being there.

“We meet again,” Yusuke commented as The Boy smiled upon noticing him. “I have to say, your resume must look quite impressive.”

The Boy shrugged, the same smirk from the first time they had met gracing his features. “External circumstances. Are you looking for something in particular?”

“Just something for a still life piece I intend to paint,” he said, glancing around at the  multicoloured blossoms. “Anything that isn’t too pricey will do, really.”

The Boy raised an eyebrow. “Do you mind if I throw something together for you?”

“I don’t see why not, though I do want final say to make sure the composition is alright.”

“Of course.”

Yusuke watched as The Boy flitted around the otherwise empty store, pulling together a small bouquet of white and blue flowers and filling the empty spaces with thin leaves. “Gardenias, blue salvias, and tarragon,” he said as he brought the flowers to Yusuke. “Does it meet your standards?”

Secret love, I think of you, lasting interest, he recalled from a point in time when one of his classes had done a focus on the hidden nuances of floral arrangements.

He hummed his agreement, taking the bouquet from The Boy as their fingers brushed together for a moment. “Yes, I think it will do nicely. Though perhaps some red tulips would be a nice addition.”

Declaration of love.

* * *

The small silver bell chimed as Yusuke walked through the door of the shop and he wasn’t surprised in the least to see The Boy standing behind the counter polishing the stains off a coffee syphon. He could have found him working anywhere in the city and it wouldn’t have seemed odd. “Fancy seeing you here,” The Boy said with his usual smirk. “What can I get for you?”

“Someone told me the house blend here was excellent, so I thought I’d try that,” he said as he took a seat on one of the stools, resting his chin in his hand.

“Will that be all for the time being?”

Yusuke hummed, returning The Boy’s gaze. “I admit, I can think of something else I’d like.”

The Boy smiled, putting down the syphon that was still in his hands and bending so that his face was mere inches from Yusuke’s. “The usual, I assume?” Akira asked.

Yusuke closed the distance to meet his boyfriend’s lips. “Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> On Tumblr and Twitter as bizarrequazar \\(^o^)/


End file.
